


gates of our garden

by honeyzhu



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Bullying, Childhood Friends, M/M, Unrequited Love, inspired by svthearsay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24317755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyzhu/pseuds/honeyzhu
Summary: minghao holds onto six words said in passing more desperately than he had ever done so before.
Relationships: Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Yoon Jeonghan, Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Kudos: 32





	gates of our garden

**Author's Note:**

> for #svthearsay

xu minghao meets wen junhui for the first time in kindergarten.

the latter was dressed in a baby-blue shirt with a scribble of a cat at the right-pocket. a single, lopsided smile coupled with sparkling eyes is enough to make him offer a small wave at the boy.

hopping over to his side, junhui happily sits down by him, grabbing his tiny hand and placing down his yellow schoolbag by him. 

"you're going to be my best friend!" he decides.

minghao can't ignore the tiny rush of happiness that bursts through him.

-

five years later, xu minghao and wen junhui sit side-by-side in a fifth-grade classroom. 

the younger boy is hunched over as he tries to inconspicuously sketch something on his math textbook. he glances up every-so-often, sneaking glances at the boy beside him. the afternoon sun illuminated the warmer tones in jun's coffee-brown hair, replacing the dark brown with streaks reds and oranges.

when junhui stands up to go to the bathroom, the girl sitting next to the pair looks back and notices the sketch on his page. 

"you're a really good artist, you know." she whispers, her light-purple locks brushing up against his knees. "it looks like him."

minghao ignores her and his textbook is packed away by the time junhui returns.

-

they're almost eleven when jun first tells minghao about his dreams.

"i want to build a garden." he decides. "i can plant all sorts of beautiful flowers inside, like hydrangeas and roses and daisies, too."

"what are you going to with a _garden_?" minghao laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"i can have a small gazebo in the corner with a piano." he gestures to the some figurative corner of a nonexistant garden. "then you can sit by the bench and paint the flowers too."

minghao just smiles fondly.

"every morning i'd bring you a bouquet. and we could plant vegetables, too."

"i thought you hated vegetables?"

"but you like them."

-

the first time junhui sees minghao cry is as he's loading his suitcase into his family car.

he was moving away, to seoul, in order to attend some prestigious high school which minghao _knew_ he would never be able to afford without a scholarship. he had seen it coming, someone like jun wasn't meant for careless days spent lying in open fields and running through corn mazes in october.

they say nothing in that moment. the universe seems to stop for a second as junhui pulls minghao in for one last hug.

a piece of paper is shoved in his hand and when his vision clears, junhui has already sat down in the passenger side of the car.

minghao stays until the car has become nothing but a speck in the distance.

-

serenity peaks gives minghao a scholarship.

tireless nights spent slaving away in front of a canvas and a constant internal struggle to stay afloat earns him a chance to attend the academy with 80% financial aid and a chance to start again. 

the summer before he leaves, he dyes his hair a metallic silver. _for a new beginning_ he says to himself. a chance to do it again. 

it doesn't stop minghao from packing an unread note.

-

on his first day, the first person minghao meets is junhui.

there are a hundred emotions that flash across his eyes in that moment, but it doesn't stop the pain from blossoming inside when junhui walks pasts him, not sparing a second glance as he hastily walks off to a destination minghao doesn't know about.

the air leaves his lungs and everything feels like its on fire for a second, the heat rushing through his body.

he spends his days in the art rooms, thriving off its silence and ever-present serenity. art becomes comfort to minghao, the burning hues of crimson and the cool splashes of sapphire acting as a shield against the emotions he tries too hard to ignore.

minghao never tries to approach jun again that year.

-

the next time minghao says junhui's name, it's tainted by ill intent.

hideous shades of dark green and navy blues feel disgusting in his mouth, too heavy and careless to be said so casually. the pair of upperclassmen had an influence, after all. soonyoung and jeonghan had both done things which minghao would've thought were disgusting just a few years ago. yet this time, he simply watches.

he doesn't think twice before shattering what remained of their friendship.

junhui catches him once, mid-conversation as the words spill animatedly from his mouth. not close enough to notice, but not far enough for minghao's sentence to remain silent.

the disappointment in his eyes makes minghao stops for a moment.

-

a year passes without minghao or junhui changing much.

the taunting and obvious lies had stopped, but the damage had been done.

he returns to his garden of serenity and spends his days painting again, the colors dancing across the canvas like a the wings of an angel. scenes of flowers and vine-covered pianos lay askew in the dim art room.

sometimes he stays quiet to listen to the almost-silent melody coming from the grand piano next door. 

it almost feels as if junhui is keeping him company again. if he closes his eyes, he can almost smell the soothing scent of cherry-blossoms.

-

when minghao first hears the news, he doesn't believe it.

not happy, talented, hopeful junhui who loved the piano more than himself. not junhui, who used to sneak around campus in the morning to feed the campus cat. not junhui, who had yet to start building his garden with minghao.

there's no way. not junhui.

except minghao knows, better than anyone, that it's _his fault_. he had dug up what remained of their friendship and left it to rot.

-

two more years pass by and minghao is graduating.

he couldn't be more thankful for the universe finally letting him leave this god-awful school.

he catches soonyoung's eyes from the other side of the auditorium. jeonghan was standing protectively behind soonyoung, their fingers laced together.

minghao feels lonely, but his fingers dig into the paper-wrapped bouquet in his hand.

-

before he leaves for the last time, minghao unlocks the doors to the band room.

it's late, he knows. the sunset filters through the blinds, illuminating the entire room and filling it with orange hues.

a small, black cat sits on the piano bench alone.

minghao sits down beside him carefully, it was common knowledge that this cat was fiesty to most students. yet, when he scoots up next to him on the bench, it makes no move to attack him, but instead lets out a quiet _meow_ in response.

he pulls out a crumpled sheet of paper from the inside of his blazer, the note yellowed with age. there were no words, just hastily written notes and a small doodle of a cat in the corner. minghao can't help a small sniffle escaping him, though it was more like a fond sigh.

using what little knowledge he had, minghao clumsily fumbles over the keys. 

-

more time passes, though minghao finds it more bearable.

the initial guilt has never faded as time passed, but a familiar melody would always play at the back of his head.

he knows that junhui would never forgive him, and he would never forgive himself either.

but maybe, just maybe, junhui would still be waiting at the gates of their garden. 


End file.
